Happy Hour at TEXAZ Grill

Monday-Friday 3 p.m.-6 p.m.

Since 1985, this shrine to Texas has been dishing out 10-gallon-size portions of Lone Star roadhouse fare. Naturally, the emphasis is on beef, pardner. That means filet, rib eye, New York strip, prime rib and T-bone. But most of all, it means what may well be the best chicken-fried steak west of the Pecos: thin, lean and handsomely crusted, served with the kind of stick-to-the-ribs mashed potatoes that can help a cowpoke work all day on the range.

NEW TIMES BEST OF PHOENIX 1987BEST MASHED POTATOES

What's the world coming to anyway? Restaurants these days haven't the slightest qualm about serving instant mashed potatoes that taste exactly like what they come in-cardboard. Lucky for us potato purists, there's Lone Star, owned and operated by two fellows whose mamas brought them up right. They start with real Idahos, whip them (skins and all) into sturdy drifts and serve them with wells of cream gravy. These spuds are just loaded with integrity (not to mention calories), and we wouldn't have them any other way.